Cloud storage

A cloud SLA (cloud service-level agreement) is an agreement between a cloud service provider and a customer that ensures a minimum level of service is maintained.. See complete definition.

Opinion 20 Sep 2023
4 reasons cloud data repatriation is happening in storage

When the advantages of cloud storage aren't fully realized, repatriation becomes a consideration. Find out where the cloud isn't delivering on its promises. Continue Reading
News 20 Sep 2023
How Google is priming its infrastructure for the AI wave

The technology giant is integrating purpose-built hardware with an optimised software stack to meet the heightened computational demands of next-generation AI workloads Continue Reading

E-Zine 07 Oct 2016

CW ANZ: Harnessing the power of server/storage architecture

In this month’s CW ANZ, read about how a council in south-east Queensland swapped its compute and storage systems for cloud services. Redland City Council CIO Glynn Henderson explains why the organisation went for a hybrid cloud system. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
E-Zine 07 Oct 2016

CW ASEAN: The power of all-flash arrays

In this month’s CW ASEAN, we take a look at how efficiencies from storage suppliers and enhanced benefits to total cost of ownership have made the commercial and technology value propositions for all-flash arrays the choice for primary workloads even more compelling to customers. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
Opinion 06 Oct 2016

Enterprise NAS performance challenges and how to resolve them

NAS storage can be used for mission critical workloads but NFS-based storage comes with performance challenges. Jim Bahn of Virtual Instruments outlines the main ones Continue Reading
News 04 Oct 2016

Dymaxia: Combining cloud, IoT and wearables to manage the anxiety of autism

Canadian startup Dymaxia explains how it's using cloud, IoT and wearable devices to help autistic people manage anxiety Continue Reading
News 29 Sep 2016

Is it NAS? Is it object storage? It’s both. It’s Avere’s C2N

Avere launches C2N hybrid NAS/object storage box that uses touted efficiencies of erasure coding to take aim at claimed drawbacks of clustered NAS rivals like Isilon Continue Reading
E-Zine 27 Sep 2016

Digital knowledge at the British Library

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out about the technology plans at the British Library as it aims to store the UK’s printed and digital history. Graph database technology is being used to help improve food safety throughout the supply chain – we examine how it works. And tech leaders tell us how to architect IT infrastructure for moving to the cloud. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 22 Sep 2016

Hypergrid adds metered usage and networks to hyper-converged kit

Hyper-converged appliance maker will allow customers to pay for what they use in hardware that will now add networking Continue Reading
E-Zine 13 Sep 2016

Dell Technologies aims for an intelligent, connected future

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as Dell and EMC complete the largest IT supplier merger in history, we look at the new $74bn company’s strategy and what it means for IT leaders. Our latest buyer’s guide examines a key aspect of cloud – cloud bursting, used for dynamic capacity management. And we assess the latest views on the UK government’s plans for internet surveillance legislation. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 12 Sep 2016

Australian council removes costly bottleneck with traditional storage architecture

Redland City Council chose to return to a traditional storage architecture when it was struggling to get rates notices out in good time Continue Reading
News 08 Sep 2016

Insurance brokers count cost of lost business as SSP SaaS platform outage enters second week

SSP confirms to Computer Weekly it has no clear idea when all brokers will be able to continue doing business via its SaaS platform, two weeks on from Solihull datacentre power outage Continue Reading
News 07 Sep 2016

A quarter of local council procurement policies do not support use of G-Cloud, research shows

Latest research by public sector-focused IT provider Eduserv sheds further light on reasons why local councils have been slow to adopt the G-Cloud procurement framework Continue Reading
News 02 Sep 2016

Cloud collaboration boosts Cumbria County Council's disaster response abilities

How Cumbria County Council tackled the unsanctioned use of cloud services within its organisation and improved the robustness of its disaster response in face of December 2015's Storm Desmond Continue Reading
Feature 31 Aug 2016

Blockchain and the promise of cooperative cloud storage

Blockchain technology allows distributed retention of encrypted data and is at the heart of cooperative cloud storage Continue Reading
News 30 Aug 2016

Cloud firm Backbone relegates X-IO SAN with Atlantis tiered storage

London-based Backbone uses Atlantis USX as storage virtualisation layer on top of PCIe flash and X-IO and as a stepping stone to hyper-converged infrastructures Continue Reading
News 30 Aug 2016

VMware to help enterprises manage AWS, Azure and Google cloud deployments

Virtualisation giant VMware offers enterprises a helping hand with managing multi-cloud environments, spanning AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform Continue Reading
News 24 Aug 2016

London datacentre market enjoys pre-Brexit surge in demand for colocation space

CBRE's pre-Brexit look at the European datacentre market sees London reap the benefits of a surge in demand for colocation space during the second quarter Continue Reading
News 18 Aug 2016

Rubrik backup appliance adds physical platforms to hybrid cloud

Flash-powered backup appliances add MS SQL and Linux physical server to VMware backup and hybrid cloud archive in Firefly release, with more physical and endpoint support promised Continue Reading
News 05 Aug 2016

Rackspace ‘on brink’ of sale to private equity house – report

Reports suggest managed cloud company could be sold in a matter of days, ending its time as a publicly listed company Continue Reading
News 29 Jul 2016

AWS vs Google vs Microsoft: How the enterprise cloud war is hotting up

With Amazon, Google and Microsoft all reporting strong growth on the back of cloud, we take a closer look at how they have achieved it Continue Reading
News 07 Jul 2016

Amazon.com CTO cautions enterprises against underestimating value of test and development

Speaking at the AWS Summit in London, Amazon.com CTO hits out at legacy suppliers and urges enterprises to get experimental to protect themselves against competitive threats Continue Reading
Feature 05 Jul 2016

Overcoming the scale-up challenge of enterprise DevOps adoption

CIOs and IT leaders share their advice on what enterprises can do to accelerate the spread of DevOps within their organisations Continue Reading
News 14 Jun 2016

Shadow data and the risks posed by cloud storage and apps

Cloud storage and apps can open up an organisation to risks of data leakage. Computer Weekly looks at key areas of vulnerability and what you can do to prevent your data going viral Continue Reading
Feature 01 Jun 2016

It makes sense to go hyperscale/hyper-converged

Hyperscale computing and storage are the norm for web giants. Hyper-converged scenarios make it possible for small and medium-sized enterprises to gain the advantages of combined server/storage nodes Continue Reading
News 19 May 2016

Lawmaker Vaizey hails UK role in resolving datacentre sovereignty issues

Digital economy minister talks up government’s work in supporting the growth of the UK’s technology sector Continue Reading
News 12 May 2016

Software-defined storage the power behind Monash University microscopes

Australian academic institute uses the technology to help it deal with huge – and still growing – storage demands Continue Reading
Feature 04 May 2016

Amazon S3 storage 101: Object storage in the cloud

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) has emerged as a de facto standard for accessing data in the cloud. We run the rule over S3, its key attributes and what you need to know to use it with your applications Continue Reading
News 27 Apr 2016

IBM all-flash family gets cloud and enterprise A9000 and A9000R

IBM announces two all-flash arrays – the modular A9000 and rack A9000R, aimed at service providers and enterprises – and the mainframe-connected DS8888 Continue Reading
News 26 Apr 2016

HDS G series arrays get native NAS and cloud as a storage tier

VSP G series enterprise hybrid flash arrays see addition of native NAS functionality on a controller card plus cloud as a storage tier via Hitachi Content Platform Continue Reading
News 12 Apr 2016

UK poised to lead global fintech sector, says Tech City chair Eileen Burbidge

Tech City chair and venture capital expert says the UK is in a position to become a world leader in financial services and sheds light on how cloud can provide failing firms with a stay of execution Continue Reading
E-Zine 12 Apr 2016

How IT in a portacabin supports £1bn London Bridge station overhaul

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how a temporary IT set-up based in a portacabin is supporting the UK’s largest critical infrastructure project – the £1bn redevelopment of London Bridge train station. Our latest buyer’s guide looks at converged infrastructure products. And we analyse research showing data protection topping the list of UK security priorities. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
Feature 08 Apr 2016

CW@50: Storage – From punched cards to flash and the cloud

Since the launch of Computer Weekly in 1966, we have moved from a world of punched cards and paper tape to one where flash and the cloud have revolutionised data storage Continue Reading
News 30 Mar 2016

Zerto adds file level recovery to Virtual Replication

Cross-hypervisor, storage-agnostic Zerto Virtual Replication version 4.5 allows customers to recover files to any point in time, such as prior to deletion, virus or corruption Continue Reading
News 29 Mar 2016

OSNexus unlocks Ceph object storage in QuantaStor v4

Software-defined storage maker OSNexus adds Ceph-based object storage to its QuantaStor product, adding it to block and file storage from ZFS, Gluster and Ceph Continue Reading
News 23 Mar 2016

GDS preps guidance for third-party suppliers to deliver 'government as a platform'

Government Digital Service (GDS) chief insists "pragmatic extensions" to outsourcing contracts implies nothing permanent in push for "government as a platform" (GaaP) Continue Reading
News 22 Mar 2016

AWS and Microsoft UK datacentre plans could upset SME-rich Digital Marketplace, Kable warns

SME G-Cloud providers told to brace themselves for increasing competitive threats from AWS, Microsoft and Oracle once their UK datacentres open Continue Reading
News 21 Mar 2016

Britain to pay billions for monster internet surveillance network

New questions raised about Britain’s snoopers’ charter after Denmark abandons its own UK-style surveillance programme for a second time Continue Reading
News 17 Mar 2016

AWS at 10: How the cloud giant shook up enterprise IT

A decade on from the launch of its first cloud service, the UK managing director of Amazon Web Services reflects on its first 10 years in business Continue Reading
News 15 Mar 2016

Dropbox invests in building out on-premise storage as user numbers soar

Cloud-based file share and sync service reveals details of its hybrid cloud strategy, which has seen it invest large sums in building its own on-premise infrastructure Continue Reading
News 02 Mar 2016

CSA outlines CIOs’ top 12 cloud security concerns

Cloud Security Alliance’s research team uncovers the “dirty dozen” off-premise threats Continue Reading
News 02 Mar 2016

AWS cuts cloud data transfer fees for academic and research user groups

Cloud services giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) rolls out discounts in bid to lower the cost barrier to making scientific discoveries Continue Reading
Feature 01 Mar 2016

Datacentre heat reuse: Why aren’t more operators doing it?

With the datacentre industry’s sustainability habits coming under increasingly close scrutiny, we find out why operators are not rushing to reuse their waste heat Continue Reading
E-Zine 18 Feb 2016

CW Europe: February 2016

In Europe cloud is restricted and hybrid setups make use of local compute and storage. Continue Reading
News 17 Feb 2016

Case study: SEO startup uses Elastichosts’ containers to solve cloud app scalability issues

Search engine optimisation startup talks about the challenges of running unpredictable, resource-hungry applications in the cloud Continue Reading
E-Zine 16 Feb 2016

How AstraZeneca saved $350m by insourcing IT

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to find out why it brought its outsourced IT back in-house, and how it saved $350m per year as a result. As the data protection debate rages around Europe, we ask if the new EU/US Privacy Shield agreement will protect citizens’ data. And we examine the relative merits of datacentre colocation and the cloud. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 12 Feb 2016

Netflix is now 100% all-in on the AWS cloud

Streaming firm details the challenges it faced during seven-year push to wind down its datacentres and move everything into the AWS public cloud Continue Reading
News 10 Feb 2016

The OpenStack Foundation: Building enterprise trust in open-source clouds

With HMRC and the European Commission emerging as OpenStack adopters, the OpenStack Foundation's CEO explains how it has set about winning over the enterprise with its open-source cloud platform Continue Reading
Feature 08 Feb 2016

Microsoft’s underwater datacentre: The pros and cons of running subsea facilities

Underwater datacentres can help providers save on land costs and cooling, but at what cost to the environment? Continue Reading
News 01 Feb 2016

TfL shifts corporate archive to AWS public cloud in digital preservation push

London transport authority has begun moving its first 3TB of corporate archive data to the AWS cloud with the help of Preservica Continue Reading
Feature 25 Jan 2016

Cloud storage appliances: What they are and who provides them

We look at the cloud storage appliance market – everything from local gateway presentation of the cloud, via hybrid cloud, to the new generation of cloud-resident appliances Continue Reading
News 14 Jan 2016

The National Holocaust Centre uses public cloud for digital preservation project

The National Holocaust Centre and Museum (NHCM) turns to public cloud provider Datacentred to help preserve stories of World War II survivors Continue Reading
Feature 12 Jan 2016

NAS vs object: Which one for large volumes of unstructured data?

Both NAS and object storage offer highly scalable file storage for large volumes of unstructured data, but which is right for your environment? Continue Reading
E-Zine 11 Jan 2016

How open source is beating proprietary software

In this week’s Computer Weekly, our latest buyer’s guide assesses the impact of open source software on corporate IT and how its growth is underpinning the digital revolution. We examine the prospects for cloud in financial services as regulators give their approval. And we ask if Uber is really part of a new business model for the so-called sharing economy. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 24 Dec 2015

Top 10 storage stories of 2015

The year 2015 in storage was dominated by the continued rise of flash and Dell’s purchase of EMC, but there were steady upticks in trends such as hyper-converged and software-defined storage Continue Reading
News 22 Dec 2015

Top 10 cloud computing stories of 2015

Computer Weekly's top 10 cloud computing stories of 2015 Continue Reading
News 11 Dec 2015

Case study: Airbus sets out challenges of changing IT supplier

Aircraft manufacturer sets out what it learned from switching IT provider after 12 years of working together Continue Reading
News 26 Nov 2015

Microsoft steps up efforts to clarify cloud security and privacy policy

Microsoft debuts merged security information hub to make it easier for cloud users to find out more about the privacy and security policies of its hosted products Continue Reading
News 24 Nov 2015

Equinix rolls out AWS Direct Connect in Slough datacentre

Datacentre provider launches private internet connection to Amazon Web Services to help customers build hybrid clouds Continue Reading
Feature 02 Nov 2015

Object storage: Cloud vs in-house

Object storage is a rising star in data storage, especially for cloud and web use. But what are the pros and cons of cloud object storage or building in-house? Continue Reading
News 22 Oct 2015

Commvault drops Simpana brand and adds features

Commvault will drop the Simpana name from the end of 2015 as it opens up to third-party data and attempts to bridge the gap between backup and replication Continue Reading
News 20 Oct 2015

Google offers free cloud apps to encourage Office 365 users to ditch Microsoft

Google ups ante in ongoing war to dethrone Microsoft as the enterprise's preferred provider of cloud-based productivity tools Continue Reading
News 13 Oct 2015

VMware reacts to the cloud and containerisation

At VMworld Europe, VMware restates products and roadmap visions that see it react to the perceived inevitability of the cloud, while also getting a grip on containers Continue Reading
Feature 09 Oct 2015

EU Data Protection Regulation: What the EC legislation means for cloud providers

With the European Commission's data protection rules set to drop before 2016, take a look at what the changes mean for the cloud and datacentre community Continue Reading
News 02 Oct 2015

Keeping up with Cassandra, the NoSQL database

What does Call of Duty, the Hive smart thermostats, Social Weather and the William Hill bookie app all have in common? They are all powered by the Apache Cassandra NoSQL database Continue Reading
News 28 Sep 2015

Apple's Irish datacentre build hit by possible planning permission appeal delay

A "valid appeal" has reportedly been raised in response to Galway County Council's decision to grant conditional planning permission for Apple's Irish datacentre build Continue Reading
News 10 Sep 2015

UK CIOs lament lack of IT support for cloud services

Research from ElasticHosts suggests most cloud users are unhappy with the level of tech support they receive from their providers Continue Reading
News 10 Sep 2015

Cloudian boosts object storage HyperStore compliance features

Distributed object storage software maker Cloudian upgrades HyperStore with added granularity of data protection features that can help meet compliance requirements Continue Reading
News 18 Aug 2015

Cloud storage service Wuala to close in November

Seagate-owned cloud storage player confirms its closure and gives users three months' notice to remove their data from its servers Continue Reading
News 18 Aug 2015

IaaS providers pin hopes on spending cut reprieve for G-Cloud 7

G-Cloud suppliers are calling on the government to step up, rather than scale back, investment in the framework as spending cuts loom Continue Reading
E-Zine 17 Aug 2015

Will digital government remain on course?

In this week's Computer Weekly, the UK government's digital chief has announced his shock departure, but what will it mean for the future of digital public services? Dell went back to a private company two years ago – has it proved to be a successful move? And our latest buyer's guide looks at big data appliances. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 17 Aug 2015

Netflix shuts down final datacentre to go all-in on public cloud

Netflix is gearing up for the closure of its final datacentre, as it makes good on its earlier pledge to move more of its IT infrastructure to the public cloud Continue Reading
E-Zine 10 Aug 2015

Data unlocks personalised customer service

In this week's Computer Weekly, we examine how companies are starting to use big data analytics to deliver more personalised customer services. We talk to the government's IT procurement chief about improving public sector tech purchasing. And Volvo's CIO tells us how connected cars will reshape the automotive sector. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
Feature 29 Jul 2015

OpenStack Swift 101: the object store for OpenStack apps

We run the rule over the OpenStack Swift object storage architecture, its key components, how it achieves resiliency and the data protection methods in use and development Continue Reading
News 26 Jun 2015

Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 winners revealed

The winners have been announced for the Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015. See who made the top spots Continue Reading
Feature 24 Jun 2015

OpenStack Cinder: Block storage on the open-source cloud platform

OpenStack Cinder 101: The fundamentals of Cinder, how it is implemented, how to provision it, how it works with third-party storage arrays, its features and more Continue Reading
News 24 Jun 2015

NetApp adds AFF All-Flash FAS 8000 series storage arrays

NetApp boosts its SSD array portfolio with the addition of AFF All-Flash FAS 8000 series storage arrays built on Data ONTAP, but still no sign of FlashRay general availability Continue Reading
News 10 Jun 2015

OnApp helps small public cloud firms take on AWS, Google and Microsoft

The OnApp Federation marketplace will help smaller firms compete more effectively with the public cloud giants, it is claimed Continue Reading
E-Zine 08 Jun 2015

The file-sharing face-off: Box or Dropbox

In this week's Computer Weekly, we look at the two most popular tools for cloud-based enterprise file sharing and assess the relative merits of Box and Dropbox. We talk to some of the early pioneers in developing smartwatch apps. And we find out why IT security spending is shifting from prevention to detection and response. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
Feature 05 Jun 2015

VMware vs OpenStack: How they handle storage

The opportunities and challenges presented by the two virtualisation environments when it comes to storage, backup and disaster recovery. Continue Reading
Feature 05 Jun 2015

OpenStack Manila: File access storage for the open source cloud

OpenStack Manila is the file level access method in development by the open source cloud platform. What is it, how does it work and when will it be ready? Continue Reading
E-Zine 04 Jun 2015

CW Europe – June 2015 Edition

Employment across Europe – Why industry has a responsibility to ensure the IT workforce adds to Europe's economic value. Continue Reading
News 29 May 2015

Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist

Find out who made the Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist Continue Reading
News 29 May 2015

A tale of two boxes: Choosing between Box and Dropbox

Box and Dropbox are in the content and collaboration business, but the two cloud services have taken very different approaches Continue Reading
News 28 May 2015

NetApp launches AltaVault hybrid cloud backup appliance family

NetApp repackages the SteelStore hybrid cloud backup appliances it bought from Riverbed as AltaVault physical, virtual and cloud products Continue Reading
News 27 May 2015

CIF cloud certification scheme wins European Commission's backing

Cloud Industry Forum's Code of Practice has been added to European list of trusted certification schemes Continue Reading
Guide 27 May 2015

Guide to LUN configuration and virtualisation

LUN storage configuration has long been a cornerstone of storage management. The LUN – a chunk of storage created from RAID partitions on a SAN – presents a logical volume of capacity to an individual server. That’s still relevant today in the era of virtualisation. Many users retain physical servers that need a one-to-one connection between host and LUN. But, the role of the LUN is also changing with the rise of server and desktop virtualisation. It now forms a container for the logical objects used by VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V etc. In this guide you will find all you need to know about LUNs, LUN configuration and management, including their use in virtualised environments. Continue Reading
E-Zine 26 May 2015

CW Nordics – May 2015 Edition

Nordic countries top list of digital nations in the EU, outperforming others in the areas of broadband infrastructure, IT skills, web use, business digitisation and tech-based public services. Continue Reading
News 26 May 2015

EMC plots managed cloud push with $1.2bn deal to acquire Virtustream

Storage giant claims latest purchase will reinforce its hybrid cloud proposition for enterprises Continue Reading
News 20 May 2015

Government cloud adoption hit by ongoing legacy tech investments

IT supplier Eduserv wants government departments banned from investing in legacy tech to drive up cloud adoption Continue Reading
News 08 May 2015

EMC predicts return to double-digit sales growth

Storage giant's EMEA chief claims downbeat first quarter results are as bad as things will get for EMC, and that normal service will soon resume Continue Reading
News 24 Apr 2015

Amazon first-quarter results value Amazon Web Services at $5bn

Amazon's Q1 results confirm Amazon Web Services – AWS – as its most profitable business, valuing the cloud services provider at $5bn Continue Reading
News 24 Mar 2015

Talon upgrades MobileFast for web and Windows file sync and share

Enterprise file sync and share provider Talon Storage adds web browser and Windows workstation access to MobileFast Continue Reading
Photo Story 17 Mar 2015

VM backup down as a priority while disaster recovery still tops to-do lists

Our survey finds VM backup increasingly “job done”, while disaster recovery, cloud storage, flash storage and mobility remain high priorities; but where is mobile backup? Continue Reading
News 25 Feb 2015

Dell adds Nutanix-powered XC630 and XC730 hyperconverged systems

Dell targets range of use cases with XC630 and XC730 Nutanix-powered server/storage nodes Continue Reading
E-Zine 23 Feb 2015

Banks take the fight to the web giants

In this week's Computer Weekly, with internet giants like Google, Apple and Facebook offering banking services, Santander is leading the fightback by launching a cloud storage service; but can it win? Our latest buyer's guide looks at cloud-optimised IT. And we examine how the economic trends will affect CIOs this year. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 17 Feb 2015

Suse launches Ceph-based cloud software-defined storage

Suse launches commercially-supported object, block and file Ceph distribution Enterprise Storage, software-defined storage Continue Reading
News 06 Feb 2015

Symantec continues cloud investment in spite of poor Q3 results

Symantec has reported third quarter 2015 revenue of $1.64bn, a drop of 4% compared with $1.70bn over the same period in 2014 Continue Reading
Feature 04 Feb 2015

Cloud storage: The top five things that go wrong – and how to avoid them

Cloud storage provides cost savings and ease of management, but there are pitfalls – and here are the top five things that can go wrong Continue Reading
E-Zine 01 Dec 2014

The future of networking

In this week's Computer Weekly, our latest buyer's guide looks at emerging networking technologies and assesses their impact on IT infrastructure. After Microsoft's major Azure outage, we look at the resilience of the public cloud. And we discuss the future of banking technology with the CIO of HSBC's investment banking arm. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
E-Zine 10 Nov 2014

Migrating away from Windows Server 2003

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as Microsoft prepares to end support for the popular Windows Server 2013 operating system, we assess the risk for organisations that fail to migrate in time. We hear from IT leaders delivering benefits from enterprise social media use to improve staff collaboration. And we look at criticisms from Oracle users about the supplier’s software licensing practices. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 04 Nov 2014

Google joins enterprise cloud battle with additions to its cloud platform

Google made a raft of announcements at its GCP Live event, including enhancements to its networking stack and storage price drops Continue Reading